The basic process for producing aminoalkylsilanes is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,046,295 to Lisanke, et al., which discloses that cyanoalkylsilanes can be reacted with alkylene amines in the presence of hydrogen and a hydrogenation catalyst, such as Raney Nickel, Girdler nickel or bis(cyclopentadienyl) nickel. However, it has been found that most hydrogenation catalysts yield a high percentage of unsubstituted aminoalkylsilane, i.e. a silane wherein the cyanoalkylsilane is simply reduced to form an unsubstituted primary amine without "coupling" with the amine reactant.
Accordingly, there is a need for a selective process for the preparation of N-substituted aminoalkylsilanes.